Box-strap seal



S. BARUCH.

BOX STRAP SEAL. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 25, 1921.

Patented Aug. 8, 1922.

y Arron/vir SAMUEL BARUCH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BOX-STRAP SEAL.

Specification of Patented Aue. 8, 1h22.

Application filed February 535, 1921. Serial No. 447,892.

To all whom t may concern le it known that l, nanna Brunori, citizen etthe TJnited States, andrresident et New York, in the county or N ewYork, State of hcw York, have invented cert-ain new and usefullmprovements in Box-Strap Seals, of which the following is speciication.

T his invention is an improved sealing device adapted Jfor use inconnecting strap ends such as are commonly used'in connection with a boxto prevent the box from being opened by unauthorized persons or to leavetell-tale evidence oit the tact that the box has been opened. In myimproved construction atubular member is employed, into or through whichthe ends or' the strap may be extended, portions ot one wallot the tubebeing adapted to be deformed or bent 'into locking engagement with the.strap so to normally prevent the withdrawl of the strap therefrom.

its the important tea-ture et my invention, I provide two or moreannular upstanding beads in the upper or outer wall of the tube andencircling the portions which are to be bent or deformed into lockingengagement with the strap. By means of. a special tool, all of theportion encircled by each bead may be forced downwardly into or throughthe strap so that the bent portion will lie substantially tangential tothe bead and without deforming or mutilating the latter. 'tf the outerwall ot the tube be pried or forced away from the strap end so as topermit the withdrawal oi the latter, it will not be possible to againforce the parts bacl-z into the original sealed condition witl outmutilating or otherwise detorming the bead so as to leave tell-taleevidence ot the tact that the seal has been tampered with. As thedeformed portion has lbeen bent from a position at an angle to the sideof the bead to a position tangential thereto, any attempt to bend thedeformed portion back to its original position will cause a bending atsome other point than at the point where the original bending tookplace, and a deforming of the bead will result. any attempt to torce thedeformed portion back into the strap by hammering` will also tend toflatten or mutilate the bea-d. The bead .tor-ms a well delined boundaryfor the deformed portion, and ot delinite diameter so that the partscannot be resealed by 'forcing the metal'wall farther into the strap todestroy evidence oi" tampering as would be the rase were thebe'adomitted.

ln the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view ot a tubular member embodying myinvention,

Figure@ is a central longitudinal section showing the device sealed toone strap end, and

.liigure 3 is a transverse section on the line 3 3 of Figure 2 on agreatly enlarged scale.

In the specific form illustrated I empio. a tubular member formed orPsheet metal, and formed with opposite walls 10 and 11 disposedsubstantially parallel and spaced. apart to a distance permitting of theconvenient insertion ot a strap end at each end oli the tubular memberto spaced, abutting or overlapping position. The drawing illustrates adevice on a somewhat larger scale than would ordinarilyvbe used inpractice as the device may be made in such size as to convenientlyreceive metal strap ends 12 and 13 of a width in the neighborhood olithreeeighths or one halt an inch. Obviously the device may be madetoreceive wider or narrower straps. Although the tubular member may bemade ot seamless tubing, l have shown it as having a seam 14 which maybe in either the upper or lower wall, but preferably in the wallintended to lie adjacent to the wall of the box or other device inconnection with which the sealing straps are used. y

The outer wall 10 of the bor; has two or more annular outwardlyextending beads 15 each encircling a iiat portion 16 in the plane ot theremainder of the wall. This encircled portion preferably has a centralaperture 17. lVhen it is desired to employ the device -for sealingtogether a pair ot strap ends, these ends are inserted into opoositeends el' the tubular member, either as s iown in Figure 2, or so as tooverlap, and the portion 16 is forced downwardly into or through thestrap by means o'l a special tool, as shown in Figure 3. This tool 18 isprovided with a flat portion 19 adapted to engage with the outer surfaceof the tubular member, an annular groove 20 adapted to receive the bead15, and a central conical projection 21 extending tangential to thegroove 20. The point of the tool is placed in the aperture 1'?, and bypressure or blows the portion 16 encircled by the bead, is Jforced downwardly to substantially the tapered annular strap, prevents thewitlnlrawal of the strap.k

If any thin instrument be inserted between the upper wall ofthe tube andthe strap in an effort to bendthe portiony 16@L back to its originalform, it will result in a mutilation or deformation of the bead, and anyattempt to bend the portions back to the position shown in Figure 2 willalso result in a bending, flattening or other mutilation of the bead.Thus the use of this bead in its relationship to the portion to bedeformed insures freedom from tampering and the certain indica-,tion oftampering should the latter occur.

1t will of course be evident that the tubular member may serve not onlyto connect and seal the strap ends, but may also be used as a name-plateby embossing the outer wall with the name of the shipper, or with anyother identification mark. For instance the devices may bear embossedserial numbers, so that the shipper may notify the consignee of thenumbers of the seals on the package, and thus prevent the entire removalof the seal and substitution of a new one by a personwhohas broken intothe Abe evident that it may be used for sealing or viously the metal oflthe tube may be suchy that nails may be driven directly through thetubular member and strap when the parts are in position, to hold themrigidly in position on the box.

'vlaving thus described. my invention., what I claim as new and desireto secure by Letters Patent is: f

1. A seal for strap ends including` a tubular member adapted to receivethe strap ends, and having its outer and inner walls, each provided witha portion adapted to be deformed into locking engagement withv thestrap, said outer wall having an annular outwardly extending beadencircling` the portion thereof to be deformed.

2. A seal for strap ends including a tubular member adapted to receivethe strap ends, and having' its outer surface provided with a portionadapted to be deformed into locking engagement with the strap and a beadencircling and defining the limits of said first mentioned portion.

3. A -device of the class described, including a tubular member havingone wall pr0- vided with an outwardly extending' .annular beadencircling a portion normally vlying in the plane of the remainder ofthe wall, the portion encircled by said bead being adapted to bedeformed so as to lie substantially tangential to the surface of thebead.

Signed at New York in the county of New i i York and State of New Yorkthis 16th day of February, A. D. 1921.

SAMUEL BARUCH.

